The year was 1931 and the place was Milwaukee. The topic - Milwaukeeans’ “sensible” approach to building their city.

“Milwaukee’s citizens (for the most part) are thrifty, conservative beauty-loving Germans; they plod at their play, but drink deep of every emotion; they linger over their drinking and eating — they tarry with reverence at their shrines of music and drama. There is a slow, deep urge to their work and play. Milwaukee’s tempo is that of the sensuous, rhythmic, beautifully sensible waltz.”

These observations ran as “an outsider’s impression of the city” in the Milwaukee Journal with the author identified only as “J.E.M.” But as metro Milwaukee gets down to the business of debating funding for a new downtown arena in 2014, does this long-running culture of caution stunt the effort?

In the Milwaukee Business Journal April 25 print edition package on Milwaukee’s penchant for saying "no," observers cite Milwaukee’s cultural and fiscal conservatism as one major challenge to advancing any major project that includes public funding. A new arena might require some form of public money with possibilities including a sales tax and a tax incremental financing district.

To be sure, taking care in spending the public’s money clearly is necessary. Debating priorities for how to use tax dollars absolutely deserves attention.

However, the likelihood remains that the metro Milwaukee community will need to decide whether to back a new arena and the commercial development some business leaders believe will go with such a facility. In the case of the arena, the NBA has told the Milwaukee Bucks they need a vastly upgraded facility for their home court. That could involve either a massive overhaul of the BMO Harris Bradley Center or an entirely new arena.

“The Milwaukee psyche is we study and study and study and come up with a plan,” Milwaukee attorney Frank Gimbel, who is chairman of the Wisconsin Center District board, told me. “The public has not been around the table with us and any kind of proposal becomes a target.”

Joe Kirgues, co-founder of Gener8tor in Milwaukee, said Milwaukee’s typical reticence to embrace big things and new trends may be the result of the citizenry being multiple generations removed from its entrepreneurial immigrant founders.

“We jokingly say we should be named ‘The Task Force State,’” Kirgues said.

As Kirgues endeavors to raise capital for early-stage businesses, he has noticed an aversion to risk in the local business community.

But it is the voice of the local business community — the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce — leading the push for a new arena.

“I don’t think we’re much different than other cities in that (skeptical) regard,” said Milwaukee attorney and arena supporter Marc Marotta, who is the chairman of the Bradley Center Sports and Entertainment Corp. board. “The initial reaction for a lot of bold initiatives is ‘We can’t do it.’”

“Great leaders accept that as only the first step toward a ‘Yes’ at the end,” Marotta told me.

Marotta is not alone in calling for leaders to pull Milwaukee out of its sometimes knee-jerk, well rehearsed “No” to big projects. This is a crucial time in the city and the region’s history in terms of its economic trajectory, they say.

Milwaukee real estate developer Barry Mandel says leadership is needed not only in creating a new arena and surrounding development but also, for example, improving schools in the city.

“It is a time for heroes,” Mandel told me. “It is a time for people to step up and recognize that we are at a critical juncture where we can leapfrog to the future and the 21st century or we can wallow in mediocrity for the next decade.”